In This Issue

	June Tarmac Delays Drop Dramatically from Last Year
	L.A. Parking Ticket Agency Wastes Millions in Taxpayer Dollars
	SFPark Installs Smarter Meters
	U.S. Regulators say no Electric Glitch in Toyota Crashes
	2 California Proposals could undo Budget Patch
	Programs look to Reverse Skid in Carpooling

June Tarmac Delays Drop Dramatically from Last Year

The nation’s largest airlines reported only three flights in June with tarmac delays of more than three hours compared to 268 flights in June 2009 along with no increase in the rate of canceled flights, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report released this week.

The only tarmac delays longer than three hours reported in June by the 18 airlines who filed on-time performance with DOT involved three United Airlines flights departing Chicago O’Hare airport on June 18, a day in which the Chicago area experienced a severe thunderstorm. None of the tarmac delays exceeded the three-hour limit by more than five minutes. June was the second full month of data since the new aviation consumer rule went into effect on April 29. In May, the first month, five reported tarmac times were more than three hours, down from 34 in May 2009.

The airlines canceled 1.5 percent of scheduled domestic flights in June, equal to the 1.5 percent cancellation rate of June 2009. They posted a 1.2 percent cancellation rate in May 2010. The new rule prohibits U.S. airlines operating domestic flights from permitting an aircraft to remain on the tarmac for more than three hours without deplaning passengers.

Having been through two ground stops this last week, I am finding the airlines are being more cautious about boarding flights when there could be such delays. Better management by the airlines will help them meet customer expectations. They will also have to work on being more truthful. Two weeks ago, I was waiting in Memphis for my delayed plane to arrive from Atlanta to connect me to Salt Lake City. When the gate agent announced that had finally taken off in Atlanta, many in the waiting area were euphoric. What the gate agent didn’t count on was that a number of us were accessing real time flight tracking programs on the internet and this particular flight continued to taxi in Atlanta for another 50 minutes after her announcement before actually getting in the air. TW

L.A. Parking Ticket Agency Wastes Millions in Taxpayer Dollars

An audit of the L.A. transportation department, which has a reputation for issuing large parking tickets, found that their electronic vehicle locators cost the city $2.5 million more than was contracted. And in spite of the overruns, less than ten percent of the agency’s parking enforcement cars have installed the devices.

“A more troubling finding is that LADOT had the option in May 2006, to purchase the devices for $1, but inexplicably decided to continue leasing the equipment at an additional cost of $577,584 to taxpayers over the past four years,” reads a statement from City Controller Wendy Greuel’s office, which conducted the audit. Overall, the LADOT “wasted at least $855,000 of taxpayer dollars and exceeded the original contract by nearly $2.5 million,” stated Greuel’s office.

The LADOT stated that it needed to lease the equipment, rather than purchase it, in order to get necessary software upgrades. But Greuel’s investigation found no such upgrades had been performed since 2006.

SFPark Installs Smarter Meters

SAN FRANCISCO – Fortune magazine estimates that as many as 45 percent of drivers on Brooklyn, New York streets are searching for parking spots. Transportation officials in the Bay Area are working to improve San Francisco’s similarly frustrating parking problems, and in turn reduce congestion, wasted fuel and excess exhaust from vehicles circling endlessly.

In a two-year pilot program with Streetline Networks, SFPark has installed 8,255 vehicle sensors in SFPark pilot areas, which allow the agency to track vehicle parking in real-time with unprecedented accuracy. The sensors show the status of every parking spot as occupied, vacant, expired or broken, and the data is available to parking enforcement. Smartphone and GPS applications for the data are in the works.

SFPark is also in the process of replacing existing parking meters with new coin and credit card meters throughout all eight of the trial areas, and will soon have parking cards available. The new meters, like the sensors, will communicate wirelessly with the SFPark data feed. Parking rates will be incrementally raised or lowered in SFPark pilot areas based on demand to help make parking easier to find on the street and at city garages. The goal of SFPark’s “demand-responsive” pricing is to maintain an average of 20% availability. Prices can range from 25 cents an hour to a maximum of $6.00 an hour, depending on demand. According to Streetline chief executive Zia Yusuf, "You shouldn't be living in a world where you cannot be guided to a block with parking space."

U.S. Regulators say no Electric Glitch in Toyota Crashes

Initial testing into Toyota’s reported sudden acceleration have shown there was no electrical glitch, and the electronic throttles were not the cause for unintended accelerations resulting in crashes and subsequent deaths, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation reporting to Congress late Tuesday. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) inspected 58 event data recorders (EDRs) removed from certain Toyota vehicles which reportedly accelerated suddenly, and could not find any new cause, beyond those already established: accelerator pedals had mechanical defects which caused them to “stick”, and loose floor mats that jammed the pedals.

The NHTSA reported that 35 of the 58 recorders showed that no brake was applied, which would indicate driver error. In five cases, the EDRs did not record any data. The safety agency said the investigation is still in the early stages and that “reviewing event data recorders is one small part” of the government’s “effort to get to the bottom of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles,” said Transportation Department spokeswoman Olivia Alair.

There is no question that Toyota handled this poorly. Very poorly. However, this report shows that jumping to conclusions without doing due diligence can have unintended consequences. Unfortunately, there will be no apology from the U.S. government on this matter or the officials who took Toyota to task. Words spoken can never be recalled. This has application way beyond accelerators. TW

2 California Proposals could undo Budget Patch

Two measures for California’s November ballots could create a $1 billion gap in the state’s already-massive budget deficit by reversing one of the only agreements made this year between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers to reduce the deficit. Both measures, written before the budget agreement, contain provisions that apply retroactively to the whole of 2010. Critics of the propositions are accusing the special interests pushing the initiatives of forcing their agenda at the state’s expense. “These two initiatives are Exhibits A and B as to why the initiative process needs to be reformed,” said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).

Proposition 22 would make local government and transportation funds off limits to lawmakers and Proposition 26 would make it more difficult for state legislators and local officials to raise fees. Either measure could repeal the $1 billion budget fix signed into law earlier this year that gave lawmakers the leniency to use certain gas tax revenue without increasing prices at the pump.

In an official review of the ballot measure’s probable effect, the Legislative Analyst’s office said Proposition 26 would repeal the gas-tax exchange as of November 2011, and Proposition 22 would leave the swap with an uncertain future, with the possibility of an immediate rollback. “Our assessment is it would prevent the benefits of the gas-tax swap going forward,” said Michael Cohen, in reference to Proposition 22, although he said if the measure passes, he predicts the final outcome will be determined in court.

Programs look to Reverse Skid in Carpooling

Census data shows that in spite of increased awareness about vehicle emissions and skyrocketing gasoline prices, the number of people who carpool has dropped over the past 30 years. Groups ranging from grass-roots organizations, local governments to the Defense Department are all working to stop the decline. States focusing on carpooling programs include Pennsylvania, Maine, Illinois, Kentucky and Vermont, with free Park and Ride lots, iphone applications and online ride-matching programs.

The latest Census Bureau figures, released last fall, estimate that about 11% (or 15.4 million people) of the nation’s 144 million workers carpool. An estimated 23.5% of the nation’s 97 million workers carpooled in 1980 – or 22.8 million people.

The decline in ride sharing from 1980 to today is attributed to rising car ownerships, smaller-sized households and improved vehicle efficiency, according to Richard Watts of the Transportation Research Center at the University of Vermont, which studies transportation-related issues nationwide. Gas prices are also lower than their peak of $4, so the financial incentives that boost carpooling have been removed. “The remarkable thing is that so many people still carpool,” said Watts.

This story did not mention that fact that many people have very complicated lives today and trip chaining is nearly impossible when you are carpooling. It would be interesting to see what the difference is in trip chaining today versus 1980. We are all trying to do so much more in the time we have and the added convenience of the automobile helps us do that. TW